BOSTON — Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, some four months removed from surgery to repair his hip labrum, hasn’t missed any practice time since training camp opened over the weekend.

But today he didn’t play in the Black and White scrimmage. After the game, head coach Claude Julien explained why:

“It’s something we said right from the get-go we’d monitor as far as he’s had that surgery and we have to take our time bringing him in. He’s practicing. He was on the ice for the first half hour. We’re just brining him in slowly. There’s no issues. If anything, Timmy’s actually maybe ahead of schedule right now. We want to make sure that doesn’t change.”

Wideman would have been better off as a fourth line winger. He has a very decent shot and good vision on the ice… But he just doesn’t have the skill set to be a top-4 puckmover. He spent most of last season getting pummelled in the corners, and turning the puck over while trying to initiate the breakout. Not to mention he was about as intimidating as a twelve year old girl. Does anybody remember the breakaway he gave up to Scotty Hartnell in Gm7 last year? Dropped his stick without even being touched, and didn’t even try to put the body on that ugly caveman or lie down on the ice.

Its not that being intimidating was his job… Wideman was just a defensive liability and dreadfully inconsistent. I’m glad he’s gone. Too bad the B’s cap situation kept them from making a play on a guy like Willie Mitchell.

Somebody above me mentioned the Kessel deal. I would take that deal a million times for what its paying out. Having the second overall pick last year enabled us to use our own pick to sweeten the Wideman deal and land Horton and Campbell. Spooner and Knight came later. But essentially the Bruins lost Kessel and Wideman in order to get Segzy Horton and Campbell. Not to mention TORs first rounder next season. Here’s to praying Toronto gets crushed this season.

I don’t disagree that Ference is in the cross-hairs. I just think anyone can do what Wideman does (and more because of how much of a defensive liability he is). This puck moving defenseman label he has acquired was true for 1.5 seasons, 4 years ago

Look, I’m certainly not a Wideman fan, and yes I make that trade a million times over. No team can get by on the hopes that some guys make up for a loss of a player, as we saw last year. Don’t put unreasonable, or unwarranted expectations on your players. Let them play their roles and play off their strengths, the rest will come in ime if its going to. They feel the pressure as it is, don’t pile it on. And let’s face it, with or without Wideman this defensive group has too many what if’s and let’s hope so’s. Hunwick should be able to fill that role, but we thought that last year and he was terrible. Stuart has to be a top 4 guy, but he hasn’t been consistently there over the last few years. Boychuck is unproven, can he repeat last year? Sure but even that on most championship teams was a 4/5 performance. McQuaid will never be that guy, he needs to play his defensive role. Ference should have been just as much of a whipping boy as Wideman has been. Etc and etc.

Do I hope they all play well and suceed, hell yeah I’m dying for it. But as we’ve seen, you can’t assume anything in this league.

This whole “puck moving defenseman” label put on Wideman is a fantasy. He was slow and a bad passer out of his own end. I don’t get it. The more Fluto writes about Wideman (which is every single article…obsessed much?) the more the general public will actually think Wideman was good. Wideman was a well below average defenseman and the worst skater on the team, yes, worse than Lucic. He will not be missed. He is addition by subtraction. I would take McQuaid over him all day, and I would probably take Kampfer too, having only seen one game out of him (the rookie game). I would take almost anyone over Wideman. In addition to being a horrific skater and having no agility whatsoever, he made wretched decisions on a consistant basis. Anyone who watched him play and thinks the Bruins will miss him is delusional.

They are better with ANYONE else in his spot on defense. I can’t believe there was a trade like the Horton trade out there. That was Christmas come early. I would have traded him for a bag of new pucks.

And I would rather have Seguin, Spooner/Kinight (whichever was the Tor pick) and next year’s Tor #1 over Kessel. That is easy.

read a funny Julien quote today that I thought might have also been included in this article, regarding the loss of Wideman he said that they feel they can make up for the puck moving and point production from the back end by committee…. isn’t that what they said about losing Kessel????? Will they ever learn?

Im not convinced Savy is “faking”. I dont see the benefit for him to do so. Even if he has a grudge against the organization, IMO he wont take it out on the fans. We have stood behind him all summer and will continue to do so, while he recovers from this very serious injury.

timmah may be laughing all the way to the bank, but at least he’s not pouting like savvy. dropping post concussion syndrome bomb as soon as training camp starts. get better timmah. tuukka will need you for 20 starts this year.